As Ophelia waved her tail in farewell and our very own Brian approached with all the stormy power its name suggests, our Tales From The Graveyard, the proposed tour of Arnos Vale with accompanying fiction, was limited to the Anglican chapel that crowns the cemetery’s hill.

The austerity of the building combined with candlelight shadows was the perfect gothic setting for our readings of the macabre and the horrible. And with an added soundman, Rich Jeffery, there maybe an audio book of the event in the future.

Come along to Arnos Vale Cemetery in Bristol on October 19th, when my story, We Are Gathered, will be read among the headstones. Other members of North Bristol Writers will also be reading their new work. Visit the event page on the AVC website for more details.

Come along to Arnos Vale Cemetery in Bristol on October 19th, when my story, We Are Gathered, will be read among the headstones. Other members of North Bristol Writers will also be reading their new work. Visit the event page on the AVC website for more details.

Having recently joined the North Bristol Writers, I found out that, in late 2016, they published an anthology called The Dark Half of the Year.

From the creepiness of Garland’s The Ancestors and Dornan’s Dark Time, to the chilling This is Me by Henney, and just plain weirdness of Meyjes’ The Last Four in the Bar, The Dark Half … is a collection of stories that explores the vastness of the afterlife. It is also eclectic, with Newland’s tragic tale set during the Roman invasion of Britain and Sutton’s futuristic take on the ghost story, keeping the company of scolding grandmothers, vengeful in-laws, and righteous wraiths, alongside Harrison’s spin on Cornish folklore and, of course, the gruesome moral tale provided by Shinn. My favourite story of the anthology, Winternights by Herring, hauls ancient myth into a dystopian future whilst almost revelling in a vivid portrayal of bloodlust, truly making The Dark Half of the Year a celebration of the dead.